Weekly Reading #25

So this last week got a little more back to normal. We had power starting early Monday morning. Of course, I had gone out and purchased a book called Unspeakable by Kevin O’Brien. I hadn’t read anything else by this author so it was a nice introduction. It was kind of a thriller and seemed like it would have some supernatural overtones. However, there was the “explain away” stuff towards the end that didn’t quite hang together. Still, it was an interesting read and kept my attention. I wasn’t happy that the publisher was pricing the paperback at $10.00 but that’s not the fault of the author.

During the outage, I started the library book I had, So Cold the River by Michael Koryta. I remembered the story as I started reading the first chapter. I set the book aside, checking Goodreads when the power came back on. I had read it. It reminded me that I enjoyed his books, so I checked out Cypress House. I liked it but it didn’t quite do it for me. So Cold the River was the same way but there was a heavier supernatural hand there. Still, I have another book by Koryta that I will no doubt read soon enough. People who like mysteries with a little bit of the supernatural will enjoy these reads. This one is set in the 1930s so it’s also a period piece, and it’s done very well. Koryta does a fine job of setting scenes. The thrill of this one dragged a little bit for me.

I also read The Prophecy by Chris Kuzneski. It’s book five in a linked series. I didn’t have a problem understanding things so it’s nice that the book stands alone. I liked the pacing, the thrills and the mystery. I was less than thrilled with the banter between the two main characters. It was set up to be overly cute and funny. No one is that funny all the time and the conversations never rang true. Also, I disliked that at the end there was a bit of a cliffhanger about what the prophecy said that we are never told about. It does not appear that we find out in the next book, and I really didn’t like that. I felt I was led through the book only to be left with another unsolved mystery and one that I’d never find out about. Having said that, I will probably be looking up Payne and Jones for their earlier works and see how they solve ancient mysteries.

My final book for the week was Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King. If you like Stephen King, yeah you’ll want to read this. I’ve liked a lot of King’s work but I miss the old King who was writing horror and thrillers. This was sort of a detective novel. I say sort of because while King can thrill, he writes books that often require a lot of willing suspension of disbelief. This one required that too but it required it about things in places that we shouldn’t have had to suspend our disbelief. Other reviewers have mentioned the relationship between Janey and Hodges. Yeah that’s one. The fact that you have a guy who stole a Mercedes and killed a bunch of people and got away and the police, when questioning the Mercedes owner who reported the car stolen, become more concerned with whether she left a key in the ignition or locked the door also seemed pretty ridiculous. They say they didn’t like her for her nervous ticks. Then why aren’t they trying to establish that maybe she knew the killer? Maybe the car was “arranged” to be stolen? But they don’t go down that path. There are many of these little things that just don’t add up in motivations. On the one hand I wanted to keep reading. On the other I felt as if this wasn’t worth my time. The fact that it’s Stephen King and you expect a really good ending made me keep going I was disappointed. Still, there are plenty of fans who weren’t, based on the reviews.

Selected Books

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